Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith charged Thursday that the Progressive Conservative party took over $100,000 in illegal donations from municipalities and other public bodies between 2004 and 2010 and she called on Premier Jim Prentice to ensure the money is paid back. In a news conference, Smith said freedom of information requests revealed 238 donations to the Tory party or its constituency associations from 41 communities and post-secondary institutions prohibited by provincial law from making political contributions.

As candidates gear up to run for the Tory and NDP crowns, Alberta’s chief electoral officer says there is a grey area in the provincial rules around financing for leadership contests that should be fixed. Under new legislation that came into effect last year, candidates for a party’s leadership must be registered with Elections Alberta after being vetted by the party before they can raise or spend money on their campaigns.

One more cold-weather council meeting, then it's gonna be actual spring then actual summer... ri-ight? Pleeeeease?
Here's what the Herald will be following, and you may want to as well:
Property taxes
Will homeowner taxes for 2014 rise by 9.

The candidate filing deadline passed March 1, but it will likely be another week before the city's election office posts all those records to its website.
The Herald viewed the documents in person, and

There will be a lot of money sloshing around at the ward level this election campaign, and lots of special interest, um, interest.
By law, winners and losers don't have to reveal their donors until 2013's end.